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Monday, April 28, 2014

Part of growing with my blog and keeping myself interested
and not overwhelmed by endless culinary technique is to keep learning myself.
Today I learnt the art of the Parsnip Puree.

Parsnip is a root vegetable, closely related to the carrot. It’s
creamy, rich and woody in flavour. It’s really complementary with meat and
seafood and a perfect way to welcome winter eating.

The key to a perfect parsnip puree is to remove the woody
core, which I had overlooked for a very long time. I didn’t even notice there
was a core in parsnip, but it came out quite easy. By removing, you stop the
puree from being grainy.

The hero of this dish is the Creole style battered flathead.
Flathead is a firm, meaty fish without an overly fishy flavour, perfect for
battering. Some people would argue that a battered flathead should be flathead
in flour and lightly cooked in olive oil, and this is perfectly fine also. The
idea of my heav(ier) batter was to pair this with the Creole seasoning, an ode
to the warmth and opulence of the Deep South. Finishing the dish with fresh
lemon really lightens the meal, however.

Ingredients

Yields 2 servings

Parsnip Puree

2
large parsnips

1
cup chicken stock

¼
brown onion

4
tbsp butter

1
garlic love

2
– 3 tbsp thick cream

Salt
and pepper to taste

Creole Battered Flathead

4
flathead fillets

2
tbsp Creole spice mix

¾
cup plain flour

¾
cup ice cold water

½
tsp baking soda (as recommended by Rick Stein)

¾
cup olive oil

Fresh
corn, char grilled

Directions

Start by cutting each parsnip in 2 halves. Starting from the
bottom, with your hands and a knife, remove the core. Finish by cutting into quarters.

Sauté onions and garlic in half the butter, until just
softened. Add the chicken stock and parsnips, cooking for 10-15 minutes, or
until soft. In a pulsar or blender, add the parsnip and reduced stock with the
remaining butter and cream.

In the hot pan, wilt spinach until a dark, emerald green.
Add to pulsar and blend until soft and creamy.

In a separate pan, or on a grill, cook corn rubbed in olive
oil. Do not turn often, as the corn needs to char. Once evenly cooked and
charred, using a knife, shave downwards, taking off corn kernels.

Coat each flathead fillet lightly in flour. Combine flour,
water, Creole spice mix and baking soda, mixing well. Coat fillets in batter and
cook in heated olive oil on medium to high heat. Depending on the fillets, they
do not need to be cooked for too long.

Rest for a minute on paper towels and serve immediately to
keep the crunch.

To plate, smear puree on plate, topping with corn kernels.
Serve with battered flat head and finish with a generous squeeze of lemon
juice.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I have just returned home from a trip to New York and am
withdrawing from NY pizza. There is a beautiful difference in taste between NY
pizza and pizza we have here in Australia. Not to mention you can find slices
at Papa John’s for $1.00. That’s right, $1.00.

I’m going to share a food story with you that may be akin to
food porn, without the violent slapping of salami onto chests and the sort. I
had a horrible habit of having ‘pizza parties’ with my other half, the day
after a big night, hung over and regretting my choices from the night before. ‘Pizza
party’ was really euphuism for this, as the party had well and truly ended. I
recall demolishing an 18 inch pepperoni pizza, with a couple of hot wings
thrown in for good measure, all in the space of 24 hours.

So, I’ve decided, moving forward there needs to be an
alternative solution lined up that’s a little cleaner, leaner and healthier for
such times and to keep my addiction at bay. The answer – Roti Pizza.

They are incredibly easy to make, you know the quality of
ingredients you’re ingesting and it will cost you a small fraction of the
price. You can really chuck anything you have at home spare, onto the pizza.

\

Enjoy!!

Ingredients

Yields 7 – 8 pizzas

Roti Dough (recipe from
Taste.com.au)

2 cups plain flour

1 cup water

½ tsp salt

30g butter

Vegetable oil (for cooking
roti)

Ground
Tomato Topping

2 – 3 roma tomatoes

¼ small onion

¼ red chilli

Coarse sea salt

1 garlic clove

3 - 4 basil leaves

Toppings

4 – 6 kale leaves,
without stalk, massaged in olive oil

Anchovies to taste

6 – 8 bocconcini balls

Basil leaves to taste

Salt and pepper to
taste

Directions

Start by preheating the oven at 180 degrees C.

Roti Dough

Start by combining
flour and salt in a bowl, making a well in the middle and adding water. Knead dough for 5 – 10 minutes, adding flour
as needed. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Melt butter and divide dough into 7 – 8 even pieces. Flatten
each piece out with your hands and brush one side with butter. Role into a scroll
shape and complete all rolls.

Heat a flat fry pan to high. Take the first ball, knead again,
ensuring butter is worked through the dough. With a rolling pin and extra
flour, roll out the dough and drop into frypan with a little oil. Try to keep
the oil to a minimum as you want the roti to be charred and cooked without too
much help from oil and butter.

Ground Tomato Topping

Finely chop all ingredients and combine with a pulsar or
mortar and pestle, adding coarse salt to help break everything down.

Final Toppings

After each piece of roti has been cooked, place the ground tomato
topping over each piece, dressing with the additional toppings listed.